A 29-year-old Middletown woman is accused of stealing thousands of dollars’ worth of merchandise from Kohl’s and then using stolen identities to return the items for store credit.

Nicole Peters’ long-running scheme was discovered this week after she was caught Monday trying to return stolen merchandise to the department store at 601 S. Ridge Ave. on an old receipt, according to Middletown Police Chief Henry Tobin III.

An investigation revealed Peters had been stealing and then falsely returning items since 2011, he said.

The most recent incident allegedly occurred on Nov. 29, when she used fraudulent store credit to obtain more than $1,300 worth electronics, including televisions, game systems, speakers, electric toothbrushes and a telescope.

Officers later recovered all the illegally-obtained items at Peters’ home, where they also discovered several Delaware drivers licenses and one California license that she used to return the stolen items for store credit, Tobin said.

Peters is charged with 14 counts of theft by false pretense, 12 counts of identity theft, 11 counts of criminal impersonation and one count of theft.

She is currently being held at the Baylor Women’s Correctional Institution in New Castle on a $24,000 secured bond, Tobin said.

An investigation in ongoing into the theft scheme is ongoing, he added.